Fair Oaks 1862 -McClellan's Peninsula campaign
by
Angus Konstam (ills. Steve Noon)
Osprey Campaign 124

reviewed by Ian Daglish

Following titles in the Osprey Campaign series such as Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg, the subject of "Fair Oaks" is likely to be less familiar to any but the American Civil War enthusiast. Hence no doubt the explanatory subtitle "McClellan's Peninsula campaign".

But that subtitle is a little misleading. For most of us, the Peninsula campaign of 1862 brings to mind the "Seven Days Battles" of McClellan's retreat down the Peninsula: Mechanicsville and Gaines' Mill; the newly-appointed General Robert E Lee and his newly-formed Army of Northern Virginia failing to ensnare the retreating Army of the Potomac; the Confederate tragedy of Malvern Hill and the Federals' ignominious voyage home down the James River. But these are not the subject of this volume.

The coverage of "Fair Oaks" makes it actually a "prequel" to all these events. This book covers the background to the campaign, the landings, and the advance to within five miles of the Confederate capital of Richmond. Then we have the battle itself which takes us almost to the end of the book, excepting only J E B Stuart's famous cavalcade right around the Union army. (After which the author appears to leave himself or his publishers ideally poised to resume the tale of the Seven Days' Battles in a subsequent volume.)

My treasured volume of the American Heritage history of the Civil War records Fair Oaks as "inconclusive". Later, more scholarly works have expended that assessment somewhat, recording the event as "mostly inconclusive", taking note of the wounding of Confederate General Joseph E Johnston which led to his replacement by Lee. However, this author is a more enthusiastic proponent of the battle's importance. And his enthusiasm gives the book much of its interest.

In the first 61 pages of the book, we have separate sections covering respectively the political and military background to the campaign, its chronology, a detailed Order of Battle for both sides, thumbnail biographies of key commanders, and an account of the advance up the Tidewater Peninsula, past Yorktown and Williamsburg, over the Chickahominy, and on towards Richmond. The result of the Fair Oaks action is mentioned several times; we are not to be kept in suspense as to its outcome! Then, we have twenty pages detailing the battle itself, and the author warms to his subject with lavish illustrations, maps, and detail. One wonders if the author would have preferred to give still more detail to the eponymous battle itself. Even so, the story is absorbing and informative. Wargamers will find good coverage of small-scale actions suitable for re-enactment; historians will find interesting detail of the first major clash of two armies, both later to become mighty but for now still cutting their teeth. 

Overall, recommended to anyone interested in the specifics of the subject action but also to anyone looking for an introduction to the American Civil War (ideally for the latter alongside Paddy Griffith's classic "Battle in the Civil War").



(Ian Daglish is the author of "Operation BLUECOAT: the British Armoured Breakout from Normandy", published by Leo Cooper Pen & Sword. He is currently completing "Operation GOODWOOD: the Great Tank Charge")

Fair Oaks 1862
McClellan's Peninsula campaign
by
Angus Konstam (ills. Steve Noon)
Osprey Campaign 124
ISBN 1 84176 680 1
PRICE £12.99/ $18.99
www.ospreypublishing.com

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